Steve 'crocodile hunter' Irwin Dies

[Meryem Ersoz]

jeff, if you really want to debate the way steve irwin lived, you should move that discussion over to this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=60427

where there is already a continuing and ongoing discussion of wildlife ethics and the moving image. look through the thread, this has been hashed out on many levels by people who do this sort of work and have respectful disagreements about these same practices. you might find it pretty interesting, given your strong views. we could probably use your voice added to that discussion, if you find you have something new to contribute. (a steve irwin discussion of what he was doing in his work--not just a rundown of judgments but some actual analysis--would be an interesting addition....).

[Jeff Phelps]

I've read a lot of that thread already Meryem. I think most of what I think has already been expressed there. Not being a pro I didn't think I needed to chime in. The people there have thought about the issues a lot more than I have. I try not to interfere too much with wildlife when I do shoot video which is just for my enjoyment. I'm not someone who jumps in and wrestles a beaver or anything. :)

[Meryem Ersoz]

Originally Posted by Jeff Phelps

The people there have thought about the issues a lot more than I have.

i'd have to agree with you on that! i feel the same way. i've learned a bunch from eavesdropping on some of the naturalist videographers that have chimed in on the topic...some folks who really know the inner workings of the animal kingdom. me, i just live among 'em here in colorado...currently trying creative ways of wrestling/trapping a juvenile raccoon out of my cramped attic space and it's about as close as i want to get to the claws....the ongoing micro-saga gives me a lot of respect for the steve irwin-types...

[Jeff Phelps]

I can offer some advice on the coon. You have to block it's access some way. Of course you have to make sure it's outside before blocking it off. It can't stay in there all the time. It will go out probably at night to eat. That's when you block off it's access. Likely as not if you don't stop it now you will have a family of 100 pound rats in the near future. Coons can be VERY aggressive at times too. They are a lot more dangerous than most people think.

Sorry about the hijacking here.

[Ken Diewert]

Interestingly, I think my nine year old son was more distressed about the news of Crocodile Steve's death more than he was about his Grandma's death last year.

[Alex Moss]

I am an Aussie in the industry that can assure you that the accident was a freak one, and unrelated to what he was doing which was making a doco on tiger sharks.
There have only ever been 17 reported deaths worldwide from rays, and only 2 in Australia, the ray just freaked out at the crew and flicked its tail up and out of the water where Steve was standing and left the barb in his heart. Horrible way to go, but ironically not from him handling the animal, or documenting it.

[Aaron Frick]

Chris nailed this one...this guy lived in the same house as he did before he started doing these shows. He did it to educate people about the animals that he loved. Much of the money he made went to buy land to secure habitats for wildlife. In my opinion he was the single most important conservation figure of his generation right up there with Jane Goodall. He went about it in a different way, but in a time when people are so wrapped up in their onw lives he got their attention and made them give a damn. He did make a difference changed peoples attitudes about relationships between wildlife and people. We will be missed!

[Marco Wagner]

Originally Posted by Aaron Frick

Chris nailed this one...this guy lived in the same house as he did before he started doing these shows. He did it to educate people about the animals that he loved. Much of the money he made went to buy land to secure habitats for wildlife. In my opinion he was the single most important conservation figure of his generation right up there with Jane Goodall.

Thank you for that post. I feel the same. He never succumbed to the "hollywood" syndrome and was one of the most REAL people out there. It is very sad that people still have to nitpick at his methodology even after his death. Wildlife is dangerous period, regardless, he didn't deserve such an untimely death. It is more sad that the U.S. audience practically banished him over the baby incident. LONG LIVE REAL PEOPLE, RIP Steve. We already miss you.

[Michael Maier]

Originally Posted by Aaron Frick

Chris nailed this one...this guy lived in the same house as he did before he started doing these shows. He did it to educate people about the animals that he loved. Much of the money he made went to buy land to secure habitats for wildlife. In my opinion he was the single most important conservation figure of his generation right up there with Jane Goodall. He went about it in a different way, but in a time when people are so wrapped up in their onw lives he got their attention and made them give a damn. He did make a difference changed peoples attitudes about relationships between wildlife and people. We will be missed!

Originally Posted by Marco Wagner

Thank you for that post. I feel the same. He never succumbed to the "hollywood" syndrome and was one of the most REAL people out there. It is very sad that people still have to nitpick at his methodology even after his death. Wildlife is dangerous period, regardless, he didn't deserve such an untimely death. It is more sad that the U.S. audience practically banished him over the baby incident. LONG LIVE REAL PEOPLE, RIP Steve. We already miss you.

These 2 posts say it all!

About the people who nitpick on his methods, have you ever noticed most of them are involved with some sort of wild life filming or work in general? Yeah, most of them make a living with wild life. What does that tell you? I will tell you, I smell jealousy and a “why didn’t I think of that first” syndrome. Because he was original, he was famous and was making millions. But the audience loved him and that’s what matters. The opinion of those people matter as much as the opinion of critics in say how good a movie is. It doesn’t affect it at all!
His criticizers picked on when he hugged the whales like if he was hurting them, a gigantic animal of that proportion. Give me a break. Last time I checked a hug was a gesture or love, which Irwin clearly had lots for wild life. If there was somebody at risk of getting hurt in those situations was Irwin. The animals were never at risk, not the Whales, not the Snakes, not the Crocs, none of them, so I don’t know why all the critic. It can only be because he got rich doing that and people are jealous. There’s no other explanation.
About the crocodile and the baby thing, I can see how a normal member of the audience could think the baby was in danger there, but it really makes me think about people’s photographic skills in this forum when people here say the kid was in danger. Being at least a video enthusiast, not even professional, one should know just by looking at that compressed shot they were using a telephoto focal length to make the croc look closer than it was and make it look like Irwin just dropped the meet chunk in the croc’s mouth while in fact he threw it forward. It was just TV magic. Oldest trick on the book to make things look more risky. When you see the scene from a different camera angle, a side one, you see the croc was actually much farther way and there was no way that croc could snap the baby out of Irwin’s hand and Irwin had a good grip on the baby with his arm completely and firmly around it. The croc would have to be a panther to snap the baby from that distance, but he wasn’t a mutant croc, just a real life one. Those can’t jump 6 feet in the air.
Give Irwin a rest. All those critics can live 200 years and will most likely never live as much as Irwin, or make the difference he did or even accomplish more in life.

R.I.P. Steve. Nevermind the naysayers.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Originally Posted by Alex Moss

There have only ever been 17 reported deaths worldwide from rays, and only 2 in Australia, the ray just freaked out at the crew and flicked its tail up and out of the water where Steve was standing and left the barb in his heart.

This seems to say that Steve was standing on a boat when the ray speared him and he wasn't swimming above it, as I had previously thought the incident to have occurred. Am I correct in this? If so, it could have happened to anyone on the boat or in any other boat. Perhaps, this is the first time a death has resulted in this exact way? We have to accept that death can come to any of us unannounced and abruptly.

[Mark Utley]

He was swimming, floated directly over the stingray and it struck him in the chest.